Apparatus for unloading marine vessels.



PATENTED JAIL-29, 1907.

C. D. ROSS- APPARATUS FOR UNLOADING MARINE VESSELS APPLICATION FILED AUGJ, 1906.

,4 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

IN VEN TOR H B Y A TTORNE 1 51 No. 842,338. PATENTBDJAN. 29. 1907.

c. n. ROSS. APPARATUS FOR UNLOADING MARINE VESSELS.

APPLIOATION FILED AUG.1. 1906.

4 SEEETSSHEET 3.

ATTORNEYS PATENTED JAN. 29, 1907.

G. D. ROSS. APPARATUS FOR UNLOADING MARINE VBSSELS.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

' w'aukee, county of Milwaukee. and State of.

. UNITED STATES PATENT oFF-IQE CHARLES D. Ross, F MILWAUKEE. WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR or ONE-HALF To LAKE SHORE STONE COMPANY, OF MILWAUKEE'WISCONSIN, A

PORATIQN or W'iscoNsiN.

APPARATUS FOR .upLoAoiiyic-r; MARKNE' VESS L-s.

To all whom z'tmay concern- Be it known that 1', CHARLES D. Ross a citizen of theUnited States, residing at Mil- Wisconsin. have invented new and useful Iniproveinents in Apparatus forUnloa-ding Marine Vessels; of which the following is a specilO I grain, and other similar substances from Ina-- fication.

My invention relates to improvements in apparatus for unloading crushed stone. coal,

rin'e'vessels and discharging such substances at a distance from the vessel in any suitable place of deposit therefor, and it pertains more especially to the construction and arrangeinent of the several conveyers and their supporting mechanism by which the substances to be unloaded are simultaneously conveyed-from two arallel longitudinal hoppers located inthe ody'ofthe vessel to acentral conveyer preparatory to being elevated and discharged'from the vessel.

The construction of iny invention. is exdrawings, in which'-'- 1 Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectionof a vessel provided with my improved apparatus. Fi 2 is a transverse section drawn on line as w of .ig. 1; Fig. 3.1;". a detail representing a plan view of the front end of the several c-onve'yers-vand their supporting mechanism,

plained bv reference to the 1 accompanying Fig. 4 is an end view of the device shown in 3. F ig. 5 is a detail representing one of the two transverse conveyers by which the material to beunloaded is conveyed fronr the side of the vessel to and discharged upon the cent-ral-conveyer. Fig. 6 is avertical section of one of the compartments, a con-- veyer and conveyensupporting mechanism; and-Fig. 7 is a detail showing the inanneriof supporting the rollers upon which tlieconvever-belts are operated. i 1

Like parts are identified bv thesaine reference characters throughout t 1e several views.

1 represents the body of an ordinary marine vessel, which is subdivided longitudi- 'nally into two compartments or so-calledhoppers 2 2 bythe central vertical partition 3, and said compartments are respectively provided with downwardly-convergmgfloors 4 4, upon which the. crushed stone, coal, and other substances to be conveyed are deposited. a t

Specification of Letters Patent. I -Ap'p1ication filed ng t rw fi ser ia iu. 328.682-.

Patented Jan, 2Q, 1907-;

It.1will.be understood thatin prac tifca use the compartments '2 2 are filled with the raterial to be handled, byniy apparatus, The

converging fioorse 4 terininateat slight dis xl tances apart leaving longitudinal apertures 5 5 between the n through' which the contents of the vessel is adapted topbez'discharged upon theconveyers 6 6. I For 'conveyerslpreferablyuse. a heavy rubber belt formed of several pliesof canvas covered and interspersed-fwith rubber, substantially like the ordinary rubber belting. These belts extend longitudinally from one end of the re- .spective hoppers 2 to the other beneath the discharge-apertures 5. The apertures .5 are closed by sliding gates 7 7, which'are reta ned in place beneath the apertures 5 upon supportingebearings '8 8. The gates 7 are preferably provided with apertures 9 near one side,"

whereby as they are drawn from the left toward the right (reference being had to Fig. 6) the contents 'of the-hoppers 2 willbe discharged through the aperture 9 upon the belts 6, when it will be carried forward by the revolving movement of said belt to the rear end of the vessel and discharge upon the transversely-arranged belts 10 10. hen,- .80 however, the gate isniovedv toward, the left,

as shown in Fig. 6 the apertures 5. will be closed and the escape of the contents there by stopped. The upper portion of the endless belts comprising the conveyer Gare 'car- 8:;

ried bya pluralitv of sets of three each: of

rollers 11.11 and 12, the rollers 11 dieing preferably arranged at an angle to theihorh. .zontal, as shown in Fig. 6,while the cei' tral roller 12 is supported in a lio-rizontalgposr tion, whereby .the upperfold of said beltupon whichthecontents of a vessel carried and discharged is retained in the troughshape position, (shown in ig.- 6 with i" spective sides above its center. portion of the belt forming said to; supported upona. plurality of sets I 13, each set preferably coniprisinga" pluralityof rollers 14, as shown in Fig.6. The rollers .11 are supported from the brackets 15 15 upon the upwardly-inclined trunnion'16. whilethe roller 12 is supported from saitlf bracket upon the horizontal shaft 11]? 'ffThe rollers- 13' are supported from the braclr'et 1S uponthe shaft 19, and said brackets a f 'e s'uo ported from the horizontal tinibersggQ iand 21 of the hopper-supportingframe 22. The. transversely-arranged belts are; respec tively supported at the ends slightly below the above the deck of the vessel and discharged u on the elevator-belt 24 of the conveyor 25. '1 1e conveyor 25 is of the ordinary construction and is pivotally su ported from the deck. of the vesselupon tlie swung upon either side of the vessel, as circumstances may require, for discharging the contents of the vessel. The belt 24 of the conveyer 25 is preferably operated by separate. electric motor 27 through a trainof gears 28 of ordinary construction, or the same may be operated by any other mode of power. preferably suspended from the top of the tower28 b manner.

adapted to be raised, lowered, and adjusted at' any desired angle to the vertical upon either side of the vessel as circumstances may require. The transversely-arranged belts '10 are supported at their outer ends from the vessel byrollers 30, roller-supporting shaft 31, and,roller-supporting bracket 32, while their converging ends are supported from the vessel slightly above the upper fold of the belt 23 by the rollers 33, rollersupporting shaft 34, and shaft-supporting bracket 35.

Motion is communicated to the several longitudinal and transverse belts from the motive power (notlshown) as follows: from the motor-shaft 36 to the longitudinal belts 6 6,through'pinion 37, gear-wheel-38, wheelsupporting shaft 39 ,-and pulleys 40 40, and

from the shaft 39 to the two transverse belts 10 through the miter-gears 41 41 and 42 42, gear-supporting shaft 43 43, gears 44 44, pinions 45 45, pinion-supporting shaft 46 46,

and a plurality of belt-supporting pulleys 47 47, and motion is communicated from the shaft'43 to the central longitudinal belt 23 through the miter-gears 4849, shaft 50, and pulley 51, whereby as the shaft 36 is driven y the motor all of said belts will be simultaneously operated, whereby the contents of the vessel will be discharged. It will be understood that the longitudinal com artments or hoppers are provided with a p urality of gates through which the contents are disper fold of t e longitudinal belts or-convey ers'6. When'desirous to discharge the'contents of the vessel, the motorby which the several belts are operated being first started,

turn-table 26in upon vertical the ordinary manner and is adapted to. be

The front end of the conveyor 25 is;

ropes or cables 29 in the ordinary .lhe front end of said conveyer is.

one or more of the gates-Tabove I tive longitudinal belts 6 are opene the"cont'ents of the hoppers oreompartmentsj is gradually discharged'upon' theupper folds of the respective belts 6, w en such contents; '70 I is carried forward and depo ited upon the respective transverse belts 10', by which itjis' conveyed .to the longitudinal central belt 23 and from thence to the conveyer 25, as pre- I viously stated, by'which conveyer it is con veyed to the proper place of deposit. Heretof'ore it has been common in the cone 'struction of apparatus for the purposes described to em oy elevator-buckets operating Fy-arranged endless belts for elea 8e. vating the contents of a vessel from the bot- 1 tom. of the hold to the deck preparato to discharging the same therefrom. Once the primary objects of In present invention is to give the elevating-be tssuch adualinclines 8 .u wardly from t e bottom 0 the vessel that t e elevating-buckets may be dispensed with/ and the contents of the vessel conveyed'upon, the smooth surface of the belts. To accomplish this object, the front endsof the belts 6 9 o are referably inclined upwardly from beneat the hoppers above the upper surface ofthe transversely-arranged belts 10, and said transverse belts 10 are preferably inclined;v u wardly from their supporting-rollers 301mg; t eir su porting-rollers .33, when they dis charge t eir contents at a higher level upon the upper folds of the belt 23, and a space is. left between the front ends of the com art: ments 2 2 for said belt 23, whereby sai beltlee may be carried upwardly by a gradual ill-53 cline from the transverse belts 10 to the con-' veyer 25 above the deck, the inclinations of the several belts being such that the contentsff of the vessel will be carried on their smooth uppler surface and the use of elevator-buckets is 'spensed with. y

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Let-. a

ters Patent, is-- -1. In a marine vessel of the class described the combination of two parallel com-- partmentsv located upon the respective sides of the longitudinal center of the vessel, having downwardly-converging floors and dis"- charge-apertures locate at the apex of sai floors, a conve or located longitudinally beneath the disc arge-apertures of each comartment, a third conveyer located centrallyv etween and extending upwardly at an angle I to said first-named'conveyers and two trans-,

versely-arranged conveyers communicat' from the two first-named conveyers an adapted to discharge their contents upon said central conve ers, means for simultane- 1 .5 ously o eratin al of said conveyers, and. means or disc arging thematerial elevated b said conveyers upon the respective sides of the vessel.

i '2. In a marine vessel of the class de-' oonvoyor, said oompartmontshaving down-- J r wardly-oonwaging lloors prov dod with d1s- J/ ohargo-aporturos loratod at tholr apex, doors for olosing, said passagos, a oonvoyor looatod longitudinally -bonoath tho passagos ol o'aoh. oompartmont, a third oonvoyor looatodJoontrally of tho vossol and oxtonding at an angle to said first-mound oonvoyors hotwoon tho .l'ront onds of said oompartmonts, and. two tralis\'orsoly-arrangml oonvoy'ors oommunioating hotwoon tho two lirst-namod oonvoyors with and adapted to disohargo their oontonts upon said oontral oonvoyor, n |oans l or simultanoously oporating all ol" said -oonvoyors and moans for discharging tho matorial olovatod by said oonvoyors upon tho rospootivo si'dos ol tho vossol.

3. in a liniriilo vossol oi" tho olass dosorihod tho wmhination oliloyo parallol oompartmonts lmxatod upon Ff-lt'in'ospootivo sidos.

ol" tho longitudinal oontor ol" tho vossol hav- .ing, parallol mnvorging lloors, disohargo-zmorturos looatod at tho apox ol" said lloors, sliding' doors for closing said aporturos, a oon upwardly voyor-holt located longitudinally beneath tho disoliargo-passagos of oaolrcompartment, a plurality of sots oli bolt-supporting rollers rovoluhly supportod from tho vossol beneath tho u )por and. lowor folds of said-bolt, tho sets oi" 'ro lors supporting" the uppo'r fold of said holt hoing arrangod at; an angle to oaoh'other so as to rotain tho uppor fold. resting thereon in a trough-shapml position whilo tho sots of rollors supporting tho lowor fold are arranged in a horizontal position, a third. conveyor 10: oatod oontrally hotwoon and oxtondi-ng upwardlyat an angle to said first-named. convoyors, aplurality of sets of rollers for sup, porting said third conveyor, two transvorsoly-.

arrangod conveyors communicating fromsaid lirst-na'mml oon'voyors nndadaptod to dlsohargo' thoir oontonts upon sald central oonvoyor, a sot of rollorslor supporting said trzmsvorso oonvoyors, means for simultaneously operating all of said oonvoyers' and moans f or discharging tho n-ratorial elevatedhy said oonvoyors upon the respoctive'sides ol' thovossol.

In testimony whoreof T affixmy signature in tho prosonoo of two. witnesses. 'GHARLES' D. ROSS \Vitnosses:

JAs. B. 'ERWJN, i M. M. SonULz. 

